TopolearnDjango's project/app structure and manage.py commands are the frame every other feature lives in.
Django separates a project (the whole site: settings, root URLs, deployment entry points) from apps (self-contained features such as blog or accounts, each with models, views, templates and migrations).
python -m pip install django
django-admin startproject mysite .
python manage.py startapp blog
python manage.py runserverThe trailing . puts manage.py in the current directory. The project package mysite/ contains:
settings.py: configuration, includingINSTALLED_APPSandDATABASES(SQLite by default)urls.py: the root URL configurationwsgi.pyandasgi.py: entry points for production servers
startapp blog creates models.py, views.py, admin.py, apps.py, tests.py and a migrations/ package. Django ignores the app until you add "blog" to INSTALLED_APPS; forgetting this is the classic reason models or templates are "not found".
manage.py is a wrapper around django-admin that sets DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE for your project. You'll use it constantly: runserver, makemigrations, migrate, createsuperuser, shell (which auto-imports your models since Django 5.2), test and check.
runserver reloads on code changes and serves on http://127.0.0.1:8000/. Like Flask's, it is for development only. Django 6.0 requires Python 3.12 or newer.
Design apps around one responsibility each; small focused apps are easier to test and reuse than one giant app.
Example
# terminal
python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install "django~=6.0"
django-admin startproject mysite .
python manage.py startapp blog
# mysite/settings.py (excerpt)
INSTALLED_APPS = [
"django.contrib.admin",
"django.contrib.auth",
"django.contrib.contenttypes",
"django.contrib.sessions",
"django.contrib.messages",
"django.contrib.staticfiles",
"blog", # your app must be listed here
]
# back in the terminal
python manage.py migrate # create tables for the built-in apps
python manage.py runserver # http://127.0.0.1:8000/Remember
- A project holds settings and root URLs; apps hold features
- Add every app to INSTALLED_APPS
- manage.py runs commands with your project's settings
Watch out for
- Creating an app but forgetting to add it to INSTALLED_APPS.